A Family Farewell

A Family Farewell

With the increasing frequency of cremation, many families realize that they are able to have a traditional visitation, with an embalmed body present, and then have a person cremated. However, if religious traditions or personal beliefs do not allow for embalming or traditional visitation, there are several options available.

A Family Farewell

Many people believe that embalming is a law and is required for any type of funeral or cremation service to take place. This is not true. While embalming is required by the state of Pennsylvania if the family elects to have a public visitation, a private visitation is permitted without embalming. A visitation is generally considered public if you release details about the date and time of the visitation in a newspaper obituary, or invite extended family and friends.

At Beinhauer’s, we offer families a private visitation time called a Family Farewell. The Family Farewell is limited to immediate family only and lasts for 30 minutes. Prayers or poems can be read and the family is given opportunity to say goodbye. The deceased person is washed and dressed in their own clothing, and placed in the casket or approved container in which they will be cremated. This is a best practice because the family can feel comfortable knowing that they’re identified their loved one and that person will never leave our care. After the Family Farewell, the person is cremated on-site at our Dormont facility.

Identification Viewing

If you family does not wish to have a Family Farewell ceremony, we require an Identification Viewing as an industry best practice. The Identification Viewing allows for up to 2 family members to view their deceased loved one in the casket or approved cremation container in which the person will be cremated. We allow for enough time to verify the individual’s identity, and then the deceased is taken to our on-site facility in Dormont, so that the cremation may be performed.

FIND US

When deciding on a funeral home, you and your family want to be sure that its service, merchandise and support selections are of the highest quality.

We provide the same superior assistance to all of our families, regardless of the type of funeral, cremation, memorial, cemetery or pet service they choose. Whether or not your choose us, this section will help you to decide which factors are most important to you. Once you are sure of what will best serve you and your family, the choice of funeral home will become clear.